DIY Deal: Sidetrack Aligns With Nike For “Beautiful Losers” Theatrical Release
by Peter Knegt (August 5, 2008)
A scene from Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard's "Beautiful Losers." Image courtesy of Sidetrack Films.
Sidetrack Films has partnered with Nike Sportswear for the upcoming release of Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard‘s “Beautiful Losers,” the documentary that debuted earlier this year at the SXSW Film Festival. While the filmmakers and Sidetrack entertained traditional offers from distributors after the film’s Austin premiere, they decided instead to release the film on their own. The shoe and apparel company will assist in funding a five market launch for the film. The doc won the Documentary Jury Award at 2008 Cinevegas and opens this Friday at New York’s IFC Center, before a roll-out. “Losers” retrospectively celebrates a group of 1990s American artists and creators, including Ed Templeton, Tobin Yelland, Geoff McFetridge, Shepard Fairey, Mike Mills, Todd James, Cheryl Dunn, Kaws, Mr. Cartoon and Rose himself. The decision, to work with Nike in lieu of a traditional distributor, marks an interesting development in the ever-changing ways independent filmmakers are working to get films into theaters, outside of traditional distribution companies. “It’s difficult because there are so many talented filmmakers out there, people with really fresh and new ideas that I personally feel could bring a minor revolution to the medium of film in the 21st century,” Rose said in an interview with indieWIRE prior to the Nike announcement. “However, for those filmmakers to get financing they have to follow a structure that might as well be for a studio film. Many times non-traditional concepts don’t fit into that system and that’s too bad. In the end it’s the public who loses, because I know there is a huge audience for these types of films—more than I think anyone in the industry is willing to accept. I feel it’s something that is going to have to be spearheaded from within by the filmmakers themselves.” Rose and the producers at Sidetrack found a way to do just that. There are few rare examples of similar releases backed by corporations. In 2005, Kemp Curly and Kevin Morrison‘s snowboarding documentary “First Descent” was sponsored by Pepsi, and last year, Davis Guggenheim‘s girls soccer drama “Gracie” found funding through Gatorade. However, both those films were released by traditional distributors (Universal and Picturehouse, respectively), and neither had an arrangement as ambitious as the partnership between Nike and “Losers.”
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I would like to see more deals like this in the future. The only thing I seem to notice with any DIY release is when it comes to dvd,cable, and tv, these movies always fall into the crack and never to be seen again. The movie business need a a full service distrib company to release a movie on all platforms and not just a theatrical deal.